


Odd Socks

by Arisprite



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: A year later, Gen, Sharing, Socks, day in the life of Dirk's assiss-friend, taking prompts way too literally
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 12:09:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10571025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arisprite/pseuds/Arisprite
Summary: What do you get your partners at a Holistic Detective Agency on the one-year anniversary of its creation? Well, Todd was getting better at recognizing fate when he walked through the doors to the silly sock shop. And he wasn't the only one.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Another fluffy fluff haha. I should write angst next, yeah? The sock shop is based off one I went to in Estes, CO, and not Seattle, but oh well.
> 
> Thank you for the response for the last thing! I've begun the writing equivalent of doodling more for the zoo story. I think there's a part of me that's offended that they changed the name of my dear Woodland Park Zoo in the show, and made it the location for a creepy soul swapping cult!

It was almost too obvious. A funny sock store, in a small town close to Mt. Rainier, would of, course pop up right when he was considering the agency’s anniversary, and what they should do. Dirk was off in another part of town, trailing a peacock, or something, and Todd knew what he had to do while he was left alone.

It had been a year. An insane, ridiculous year and Todd knew that it was the best year of his life, second to none. Yes, it had been dangerous, and painful, and they still didn’t have an effective control of both his and Amanda’s disease without hanging around the Rowdy 3 too much (and they made Dirk uncomfortable, which made Todd grumpy) but all in all the year had been… bright.

It was in stark contrast to the dim, or blackened tinge the rest of his adult life had. He had Dirk to thank for that, along with Amanda and Farah, and all the other people they’d met and worked with.

It was these sort of thoughts that Todd thought had brought him to the sock shop. He’d grown used to following the ‘stream’ as Dirk said, though he couldn’t see it until he got there. And after years of thinking he was a complete screw-up, of no use to anyone, it was… nice. Nice to feel needed; to know that the universe wanted him right where he was. And, as it often turned out, it was where he wanted to be too.

So, Todd stepped over the threshold of the sock shop and began to look around for anything that stuck out. There was sure to be something here that would fit.

The first thing he saw was a pair of over the knee socks with a small pattern of a yellow duck playing a guitar. Amanda.

He spent some time in the practical, outdoorsy socks for Farah, but ultimately ended up with a set of three fluffy socks - the softest he’d ever felt - in a range of pastel colors.

After that, there was only Dirk. And there was the kicker. It’s likely that any of the socks would make him happy. He liked bright colors, small animals, and soft things, and they had each of those things aplenty. But Dirk was searching for something more… him.

Then, he saw them. Bright yellow, in the color Todd already associates with the man and covered in a smattering of animal faces. A rhino. A gorilla. A giraffe. And somehow, there was a hammerhead shark, and a cat as well. It was like someone took their case, and made a pair of socks out of it. They were perfect.

He reached for them, only to find another pair of fingers was reaching for the same pair. Todd started, and then his jaw dropped to see Dirk, staring at him.

“Dirk!” he said, for lack of anything to say. He unconsciously tried to hide the other socks he’d picked up behind his back. “I thought you were chasing a…. suspect?”

Dirk snatched his fingers back, blushing a little, and putting his hands behind his back.

“Er, right, well the funny thing is, that it _vanished_ , ergo, I went to find you again, and,” he tipped forward and back on his toes. “well, here you are!”

You might think that a large, brightly colored peacock wouldn’t just up and vanish, but Todd had learned not to question too closely.

“Okay, well, would you, like go stand over there for a sec? I wanted to…”

But Dirk’s fingers were inching towards the socks, and Todd met his eyes in a weird sort of standoff. Todd moved his fingers forward. Dirk did too. Then, finally, both hands snapped forward at the same time, whacking into each other, and jamming Todd’s fingernail against the hook thingy.

He swore and jumped back, shaking his hand, while Dirk snatched the socks from the hook, and held them up. And of course, the one behind it was totally different.

“Hah! I got them first!” he crowed, and Todd rolled his eyes, to lesser effect, since he was bent over cradling his fingers.

“You idiot, I was going to get them for you, anyway,” Todd muttered, checking to see if his finger was bleeding. Damn, that had hurt. He almost didn’t notice the odd silence from his friend. He looked up to see Dirk looking at him with big wobbly eyes, and a tiny smile. “What?”

“You were going to get them… for me?” Dirk nearly whispered like the words were sacred.

“Well, I…” Todd frowned, and stammered a little. “Well, yeah. They’re perfect.”

Dirk was nearly vibrating, and Todd wasn’t quite sure why.

“That’s what I thought!” Dirk exclaimed, holding the sock package up to his chin, and beaming at him. “But I was going to get them for you!”

Todd blinked.

“Wha- you were?”

Dirk nodded. With his whole body. Todd straightened up, and looked again at the gap where they used to be, and sighed.

“So, what are we supposed to do now? There’s only one pair- wait, what are you doing?”

Dirk was ripping open the package, undoing the little plastic thingy that held the pair together. Then he held out one of the decorated socks, offering it to Todd like it was the crown jewels.

“We’ll split them,” he declared. Todd gaped.

“You have to- but, well… yeah, okay.” Feeling kind of shy, Todd took one of the socks, and held it. It was softer than he’d expected.

Dirk looked pleased as punch, holding his own sock close to his chest, and grinning. Todd examined the one he held and again thought that whoever had designed this must have heard about their story, or something, because it was ridiculously perfect, down to the shade of yellow that matched the jacket Dirk happened to be wearing today.

“Okay, so we each have one sock now,” Todd said. “Shouldn’t we, I dunno, get a second pair, so that we can split that one too?”

Dirk’s eyes widened. “Todd, you are absolutely brilliant. It’s rather uncomfortable to wear just one sock, of course!”

And he snatched a pair from the same rack, a plainer one, but in a bright orange that clashed with the yellow ones in their hands. Todd shrugged and took them. Dirk was bubbling with excitement.

“Now we’ll match! Or, oh! You could wear this one on your left foot, and I’ll wear it on my right, and then we could be a mirror of each other! Oh, lovely! And then-”

He blabbered on, and Todd listened fondly while he shepherded him, the broken up pair, and the armful of other socks he was buying to the cash stand.


End file.
